Centralized fault location technique for power transmission networks using WAMS data

Abstract

Wide Area Monitoring Systems (WAMS) have recently become a prominent technology that helps in improving the visibility and situational awareness of the power grid. This technology employs Phasor Measurement Units (PMU) widely and extensively, and they are synchronized using a global positioning system clock to provide time-synchronized voltage and current phasors at the points of employment. This paper presents a fault location algorithm for two-terminal overhead line, cable and hybrid lines, using positive sequence components of these synchronized phasor measurements as inputs. The proposed technique is simple in terms of computational complexity and works well for all types of transmission (homogenous and non-homogeneous) systems. The proposed fault location method is tested with various conditions such as type of fault, fault resistance, fault location, inception angle and source to line impedance ratios (SIR), by using PSCAD/EMTP simulations. The PSCAD/EMTP simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed method gives high accuracy under various power system conditions.